Ken Padgett

    A year ago today on January 6, 2021, a violent mob attacked the US Capitol to try and overturn the election of Joe Biden and keep Donald Trump in office. We all watched the horrifying scenes on TV and many of us cried. The mob would have succeeded if not for the courage and dedication of the Capitol Police, many of whom were seriously injured. The mob was inspired by outrageous lies about a “stolen election” that were repeated endlessly by Trump, Right-wing media and many Republican members of Congress.  During the attack, many members of Congress on both sides of the isle were scared shitless and were cowering up in the balconies. Trump watched the attack with great joy and when the calls came in from Republicans and Fox News personalities asking Trump to call it off, he scoffed. Several hours later he finally made a video telling his supporters to "go home now," while continuing to falsely insist that his reelection was stolen.  After the attack, some Republica...

Why do people continue to support Trump no matter what he does? Simple. T hey don't care what he does. They support Trump because he hates the same people they hate. He can do pretty much anything and they'll explain it away. Or they will just laugh it off because they truly don't care what Trump does or they chalk it up to "fake news." How liberals see Trump supporters - it's not that simple   The one core value that Trumpsters celebrate above all others is hatred for weakness. Refusing to wear masks to protect oneself and others from COVID has been turned into "freedom" but it's really about exposing fear. They're playing chicken with nature, and whoever flinches is a "weakling." Their passionate hatred for weakness is what proves to them that they are strong.  Kindness = weakness.  Honesty = weakness. Compromise = weakness. They believe themselves superior in every way to anyone who doesn't hate weakness as much as they...

    In 2008, conservative media went nuts when a video surfaced showing two New Black Panthers at a polling location in Philadelphia. One individual was carrying a billy club and was asked to leave. The other was actually licensed as a poll watcher and had a right to be there. They were both sued by Obama's Department of Justice on claims of voter intimidation . Much later, and after a lot more drama from the Right, all the charges were dropped. Republicans weren't satisfied with that and conducted an investigation into why the charges were dropped. Nothing more materialized and eventually it was forgotten. And now in 2020 we have Trump telling his supporters to "patrol" the polls looking for fraud. He has them stirred up and charged with righteous indignation. It's freakin' scary already, and Trump is just getting started. Trump is not the real problem. It's important to remember that Trump's enablers are the ones making all of this possible. And it...

  “Voting is a meaningless exercise. I’m not going to waste my time with it. These parties, these politicians are given to us as a way of making us feel we have freedom of choice. But we don’t.” — George Carlin After 2020, I won't be voting again for any candidates for President, House, or Senate. Why should I bother, when my vote really doesn't matter? Don't try to tell me "every vote counts." Maybe in some swing states they do, but not in California. I live in a solidly Democratic district in a solidly Democratic state. Gerrymandering has made my vote for representative meaningless, while the Electoral College makes my vote for president meaningless, because California is a "winner take all" state. California will have two Democratic Senators for the foreseeable future, and so my voting for Senator certainly won't ever change the outcome. The System is Broken The ideal of one person, one vote completely disappears in the Electoral College and t...

Our enemies in Iran are watching. We should all question the justifications for the drone strike on terrorist leaders in Baghdad. We deserve some answers. But all the hand wringing in the media about Trump starting World War 3 and us being on the brink of war is only giving aid and comfort to our enemies. They want us to be afraid, divided and fearing what they might do next. And when the retaliation from Iran finally happens, the media will go all "Chicken Little" again. Yes, it may cost some American lives and that's unfortunate, but we run that risk every time we deploy troops. It's a dangerous world out there. We can hide under our beds or "Keep Calm and Carry On" while we wa it for some answers. Knowing Trump as we do, it's likely that this will turn out to be a monumental blunder that will be justified by a pack of lies. But it's done now and we have to live with the consequences. We need a healthy debate on the facts, but exaggerating...

President Trump paid tribute to Ryan Owens, the SEAL killed during a mission in Yemen in his first address to a joint session of Congress, singling out Owens’s widow, Carryn. Pointing to the grieving widow, Trump repeated the lie that, "Ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemies." Then Trump gave two more applause lines resulting in three standing ovations for the widow. It was so very sad to watch her face as she was used as a prop for such an unseemly display. Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the operation "a failure" because the terrorists were allegedly tipped off in advance. “When you lose a $75 million airplane and, more importantly, American lives are lost and wounded, I don’t believe that you can call it a success,” In addition to the death of Ryan Owens, six other U.S...